Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

Raimund Gregorius, Swiss teacher of classical languages, lives a life as orderly and predictable as a Latin verb declension until the day he saves a young Portuguese woman from jumping off a bridge. Hoping to be able to speak with her some day, he stops in a small bookstore to get a book on the language. He is also given a journal written in Portuguese that proves to be life changing. Driven to discover the story behind the author of the book, he walks away from his job and takes the night train to Lisbon. Fate and the book guide him on his journey. The author's identity and writing serve as an outline for self discovery for Gregorius and the reader in this philosophical novel. Book groups willing to ready the essays and insights of the mysterious doctor's journal will find multiple talking points as the reader is encouraged to think about a sense of self, history, and personal responsibility.